The present invention relates to a disposable portion package, especially for liquids, pastes, creams and the like, the package comprising a casing which is primarily made of a flexible plastic film or the like and tightly encloses the packaged material and a conduit in conjunction with the casing, the conduit having been arranged to open under pressure produced inside the package by, for example, pressing the package between the fingers in order to make the contents available for use.
Packages of this type for pastes and creams are previously known. Norwegian Pat. No. 86,391 discloses a kind of small portion capsule or tube which contains a single portion of a cosmetic substance or the like, which can be obtained from the package by pressing. A kind of outlet conduit has been made in the package and the conduit is closed with a plug made of a material weaker than the package itself, so that it is broken by the pressure produced by pressing, thereby opening the outlet. However, this known package has a disadvantage in that it is difficult and expensive to manufacture, and therefore it has not gained great popularity. Even the shape of the package is somewhat impractical.
In the invention according to U.S. Pat. No. 3,595,466 the opening system of the package is based on the fact that the package contains, as an integral part, a kind of stiffening member positioned in the area of the opening point of the package, and in this case, when the package is opened, it is pressed in the direction of this member, which is a ring or a plate. Pressing produces tension in the direction of the plane of this member, and the package opens at the weakened point in the package film.
It should be noted that in this package, when it is being opened and pressed at the opening point, it is not possible and not the intention to develop a pressure which causes the contents to discharge suddenly as a spray, but the contents are discharged primarily as a flow.
The applicant's previous Finnish patent application, No. 753728, discloses a small bubble package made of plastic; this package is also of the type mentioned earlier and is characterized in that a weakened point has been made in the wall of the package in order to have each package open at the same point and that the said weakened point is appropriately marked, by, for example, an arrow or the like, in which case the direction of the flow of material can be determined in advance.
However, practice has shown that different substances to be packed also require different types of thinning in the wall. Such thinning is technically difficult to control and implement. In addition, thinning has proven to be impossible when using plastic film types (e.g. laminated plastic films) which are better impermeable to liquids and gases than conventional plastic films. If it is desired, for example, to pack cosmetic liquids in bubble packages of the type in question it is necessary to obtain packages in which the liquids keep unevaporated or unchanged over even long periods in order to make storage before selling possible. Such packages are possible if, for example, the said laminated plastic films are used.
The object of the present invention is to eliminate the above disadvantages and to provide a new, improved package of the type defined in the preamble and that the new package is of the type in which the contents are always discharged in the same manner from a specific point in a predetermined direction. Another object is to provide a package the manufacture and filling of which are simpler than previously and can both also be effectively automated. A further object is to provide a package with a shape advantageous in terms of both marketing and use.